Wednesday, September 19, 2012

As it occurs to me lately, winning the Heisman isn't as beautiful as it used to be. Instead of being about who's the best player, it's usually who's the best quarterback on the best team in the land, with last year being an exception to a loose rule. ESPN was doing its very best to vault Matt Barkley into an insurmountable Heisman lead, but he couldn't reciprocate because Stanford's defensive line nearly ate him alive. Choke artist.

This year probably won't see a quarterback at the podium accepting the trophy. While there are a few in the running, it occurs to me that none will have the QB chops and be on the best team in the land. Some examples:

AJ McCarron, QB, Bama - Bama bangs and a caretaker mentality don't get you a bronze statue. Very good though, unassumingly.

Braxton Miller, QB, tOSU - Doesn't feel right voting for a guy who's team has a postseason ban. And they'll lose eventually when the competition stiffens up. They have no other playmakers.

Collin Klein, QB, KSU - Best team in the land, KSU is not.

Despite my earlier opinion that a QB won't be winning the award this year, ESPN's Heisman Predictor has.... drum roll.... Aaron Murray out front at number one ($$$). So yeah, this thing, I don't get what the deal is here. Let's think about it.

Murray's numbers are pretty darn good, even though we all see him up and down, up and down - third in YPA, 11th in passer rating, close to 300 ypg.

Schedule is VERY favorable, even though it looks less favorable than 4 weeks ago. Heisman voters love an undefeated team. Think the computer gives him a lot of points for this one.

Media exposure. He'll be getting the national attention the others won't.

While all of these sound good, I don't believe he'll come close to winning it. Why? Because he's an SEC quarterback and SEC QB's aren't as exciting to watch. There's not usually a running threat, huge numbers because of a spread offense, and, by consequence, a large number of WOW! plays. It's not because he doesn't have the capacity, it's because we play old man football and regardless of how you feel about Mr. Richardson's comments, he's right.

2 comments:

Barkley can still win, although he shouldn't. Last year wasn't the only exception. Look at the year Tebow won. They had 4 losses. It's sad but true. The voters follow whomever the media hypes. Murray put up very similar numbers to Luck last year and got no love from the media.